Method of and apparatus for back-filling



L A. BOLTON. METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR BACK FILLING. APPLICATION FILED APR. 18, 1918.

1.359955%, Patented Nov. 23, 1920.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

L. A. DOLTON. METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR BACK FILLING. APPLICATION FILED APR. I8. 1918.

1,359,582, 7 Patented NOV. 23, 1920.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

:uummmu L. A. BOLTON. METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR BACK FILLING.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 1a, 1918.

1 59,5 ,v PatentedNov. 23,1920;

6 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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5 /0 2/ /0 Imemiorv 22 M m idea/ 0% L. A. BOLT-9N. METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR BACK FILLING. APPLICATION FILED APR. 18, 1918.

1,359,582. Patented Nov. 23, 1920.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

L. A. DOLTON.

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR BACK FILLING. APPLICATION FILED APR. I8, 1918.

Patented N (W. 23, 1920.

6 SHEETSSHEET 5.

L. A. DOLTON.

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR BACK FILLING. APPLICATION FILED APR. 18, I918.

1,359,58Qn A Patented NGV. 23, 1920.

6 SHEETSSHEET 6.

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UNITED STATES LLOYD A. BOLTON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,

A SS-IGNOR TO WELLER MANUFACTURING COMPANY, on onroaeo, ILLINOIS, a CORBORATION on ILLINOIS.

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR BACK-FILLING.

Application filed April 18,

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, LLoiro A. DoL roN, a citizen of the United States, and a. resident of Chicago n the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of and Apparatus for Back-Filling, of-which the following is a full, clear, and eXact-descrip. tion. 1 The invention relates to apparatus and a method for use in connection with laying or building sewers. Heretofore, it has been the common practice to excavate a trench and deposit the soil at one side of the cut or trench, and leave it there until the sewer has been laid or built. Then it is shoveled back into the trench.

T he present invention is designed to avoid the necessity of depositing, the excavated material alongside of the trench and to hack-fill the trench with material removed therefrom without depositing the soil.

This object is attained by providing an apparatus which is adapted to convey and I take care of the excavated material from the time that it is removed from the cut until atter the. sewer has been laid or. built and then backfill it.

In providing apparatus to attain this re-, sult. the necessity of depositing the, eXcae vated material on the road or ground at the. side of the cut avoided and back-filling is greatly expedited.

The invention consists in the several novel features hereinafter set forth and more par: ticularly defined by claims at the conclu sion hereof.

In the draw ngs: Fiourel is; side eleva-. tion of an ap aratus embodying the inven-i. tion; Fig 2 is a vert cal tra-nsverse-, section taken on line2- 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3-is a plan of that portion of theapnaratuswhichreceives dirt "Tom-the cut. Fig. 4lis a side, elevation ot the same Fig, 5- is asection talren on line 5-5 of Fig. 7-. Fig. Gisan end elevation ot the receiving apparatus. 7 is a vertical longitudinal section of the receiving apparatus. Fig. 8 is an endelevation. and Fig. 9 is a plan of the apparatus tor delivering dirt back into the cut.

The apparatuscomprises e sentially a re.- ceiv nor apparatus A into which the dirt isv deposited usually by a steam shovel, a dirt carrier B supported upon a series of trucks T C, and adelivery. apparatus-D;the convey Specification of Letters Patent.

excavated to the Patented N 0v. 23, 1 920. 1918. Seria1No.229,249.

being of sufficient length to retain and handle the material from the point where it is point where the cut is to be closed or where back-filling is tooccur. alter the sewer has been laid or built. 'The receiving apparatus A is sustained by a wheeled truck a and the delivery apparatus is suitably sustained by a wheeled truck (Z, so that the entire apparatus can be advanced on rails 10 to keep apace with the digging and back-filling of the cut. The receiving apparatus comprises a hop per 11 having inclined sides 11 and vertical ends 11, supported by a framework 12 which is built upon thetruck a. The hop per 11" is open at the bottom so that the material in the hopper will fall therethrough onto an endless pan conveyer 13 which travels. around sprockets 141 on a shaft 15 and sprockets 16 on a shaft 17, which'are mounted on thestrame-worlt 12'. The upper reach of this pan conveyer is suitably guided between said shaft-s on tracks 18 which are supported by cross beams 19. The lower reach of said conveyer is supported on tracks 20. This 'conveyer is adapted to gradually conveythe material deposited in the hopper 11 to an endless conveyer belt 21 which is of suilficient length and capacity to retain the material to the point where bachiilling is to be done. The pans or buckets of conveyer 18 serve to regularly feed the dirt away from the hopper, the end 11* being extended to prevent excessive loading. Cutter blades 22 on a shaft 23 are operated to break up the material as it falls from the pan conveyer 13 onto the belt 21 of carrierB. I

Theirereiving endof the endless belt 21 passes around a pullev 24: on a shaft 25 which is sustained bytheiframework 1-2 on and below the pan convever. The cutter shaft 23 is mounted on frame-work 12. A

guidepulley 26 is mou-nted at therearenrh it sprocket wheel 27 i on shaft 25 drives a chain 28 which drives a sprocket wheel on shaft 17 to drive the pan-couveyer 13. A gear30 on shatt 25 meshes with a gear 31 on ashatt 32 which is su por ed bv the fraine work .l2, and asprocliet Wheel 83 on shaft 32, chain 34, and sprocket wheel on shaft 23 drive the cutters 252.

Between the receiving and delivery apparatus, the upper reach of the conveyerbelt 21 is supported on pulleys 36 and troughing rollers 37 which raise the margins of the belt to retain the dirt. The shafts of these pulleys and rollers are mounted in bearings fixed to the sills 38 which are adapted to rest on the wheeled trucks 0. These sills are not fixed to the truclrsto permit some flexibility when the apparatus is being moved around a curve. A suflicient number of these trucks are provided to sup port the conveyor belt B between the receiving apparatus and the delivery apparatus, which are spaced apart a sutlicient distance to retain the material from the point where 1t 15 received from the cut to the point where the sewer has been laid or built and the trench is to be filled.

Atthe delivery end of the apparatus, the

conveyor belt 21 is elevated and. passes around a pulley t0 on a shaft 41 which is supported by suitable frame-work 42 which is carried by the trucks adjacent the delivery end and is secured to sills 38.v A motor as is suitably mounted on these sills. A belt ll, driven by the motor, drives a pulley as ona countershaft 4:63 which has a pinion l7 which drives a gear l8 on the shaft 41. This motor and gearing drive theconveyer belt 21. The latter besides conducting the material from the receiving apparatus to the delivery apparatus, drives th shaft from which power is communicated. to the pan conveyer 13 and cutters 2'2, herein before. described. The delivery apparatus comprises an endless cross-conveyer which passes around.

a pulley 51 supported by the frame-work 52 on the truck (Z or" the receiving apparatus,

and a" pulley 53 mounted adjacent the outer end of a conveyer-Irame 5 1 whlch is pivotally connected to the frame 52 so it can be swung. vertically to vary the point at which the material will be discharged from the belt A suitable hoist 55 is mounted on the framework 52 to adgustthe cable .56 which supports the conveyer frame 54. The

longitudinal conveyer belt 21 discharges ma- I terial into a chute 57 which delivers it into the end'of the cross-conveyer 50. 'A chain 60 is driven by a sprocket wheel 61 on shaft 4G to drive a sprocket 62 on a shaft 63; A beveled pinion 6 1 on shaft 63 drives a gear 6; on shaft 66 of the pulley'ol at the inner end. of the cross-conveyer. An inclined apron 70 is adjustably supported so it can deflect the material discharged from the cross-conveyerto the desired point in the trench;

In operation, the material eircavated from the cut or trench is deposited into the hopper ll at the receiving endof the back-filling the material in regulated quantity from the.

hopper and deposits iton the endless troughconveyer 21, the cutter 22 serving to disintegrate and break up the material so that it will be in condition to be used for back-tilling. The conveyer 21 retains and conducts the material and ultimately discharges it into the hopper 57 which deposits the material into the cross conveyer 50 which conducts it sidewise to a point where it will bacl fill the trench after the sewer has been laid. All of the apparatus is driven in synchronisin so that it will operate to dispose of the material in regulated quantities and as the excavation and filling occur, the entire apparatus will be moved "forwardly on the traclg to constantly maintain thereceiving apparatus, in position to receive the filling and to advance the delivery appara tus as the trench is filled. The entire apparatus may be continuously driven.

The invention thus exemplifies apparatus which. isadapted to receive the excavated material as the trench is formed and to retain it and convey it continuously to the point where the trench is to be-filled' after the sewer has been laid or built. The apparatus avoids depositing the material onto the roadway ttnd the necessity of picking it up to subsequently fill the trench, and also exemplifies a method-for back-filling which avoids depositing the soil onto the roadway or at the side of the cut.

The invention is not to be understood as restricted to the details set forth, since these may be modified within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Having thus described theinvention, what l'claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is: p

1. In apparatus of the character described, the combination of apparatus ror receiving material excavated from a trench.

a wheeled support for the receiving apparatus. delivery-apparatus disposed relatively to the receiving apparatus to discharge the material into a previously excavated portion of the same trench, a wheeled support for the delivery-apparatus, a conveyor between the receiving apparatus'and the delivery apparatus, and wheeled supports for the conveyerbetween the receiving apparatus and delivery apparatus, a conveyer between the receiving apparatus and the delivery apparatus and wheeled supports for the conveyer between the receiving apparatus and the delivery apparatus.

3. In apparatus of the character described, the combination of apparatus for receiving material excavated from a trench, a wheeled support for the receiving apparatus, disposed relatively to the receiving apparatus to discharge the material into a previously excavated portion of the same trench, a Wheeled support for the delivery-apparatus, an endless conveyer between the receiving apparatus and the delivery apparatus, wheeled supports for the conveyer between the receiving apparatus and the delivery apparatus, and a pan-conveyer between the receiving apparatus and the endless conveyer for regularly feeding the ma-- terial to the endless conveyer.

4. In apparatus of the character described, the combination of apparatus for receiving material excavated from a trench, a wheeled support for the receiving apparatus, delivery-apparatus disposed relatively to the receiving apparatus to discharge the material into a previously excavated portion of the same trench, a wheeled support for the delivery-apparatus, an endless conveyer between the receiving apparatus and the delivery apparatus, wheeled supports for the conveyer between the receiving apparatus and the delivery apparatus, means ass0- ciated with the delivery apparatus for driving the endless conveyer, a pan conveyer between the receiving apparatus and the endless conveyer, and means for driving the pan-conveyer from the endless conveyer.

5. In apparatus of the character described, the combination of apparatus for receiving material excavated from a trench, a wheeled support for the receiving apparatus, delivery apparatus disposed rela tively to the receiving apparatus to discharge the material into a previously excavated portion of the same trench, a wheeled support for the delivery-apparatus, a conveyer between the receiving apparatus and the delivery apparatus, wheeled supports for the conveyer between the receiving apparatus and the delivery apparatus, and means for disintegrating the material delivered to the conveyer.

6. In apparatus of the character described, the combination of apparatus for receiving material excavated from a trench, a wheeled support for the receiving apparatus. delivery-apparatus disposed relatively to the receiving apparatus to discharge the material into a previously excavated portion of the same trench, a wheeled support for the delivery-apparatus, an endless conveyer between the receiving apparatus and the delivery apparatus, wheeled supports for the conveyer between the receiving apparatus and the delivery apparatus, means associated with the delivery apparatus for driving the endless conveyer, means for disintegrating the material delivered to the endless conveyer, and means operated by the conveyer for driving the disintegrating means.

7. In apparatus of the character described, the combination of apparatus for receiving material excavated from a trench, delivery apparatus disposed to discharge the material where the trench is to be filled, a pan-conveyer for removing the material from the hopper in regulated quantities, a conveyer between the pan-conveyer and the delivery apparatus, a motor for driving one conveyer and driving means between the conveyers.

8. In apparatus of the character described, the combination of receiving apparatus comprising a hopper, an endless pan conveyer at the bottom of the hopper, an endless conveyer to receive the material from the pan conveyer, delivery apparatus comprising a cross-conveyer, for receiving the material from the endless conveyer, and. wheeled trucks for supporting the receiving apparatus, and all of said conveyers.

9. I11 apparatus of the character described, the combination of receiving apparatus comprising a hopper, an endless pan conveyer at the bottom of the hopper, an endless conveyer to receive the material from the pan conveyer, delivery apparatus comprising a cross-conveyer for receiving the material from the endless conveyer, wheeled trucks for supporting the receiving apparatus and all of the conveyers, and driving mechanism for all of said conveyors supported by the wheeled trucks.

10. In apparatus of the character described, the combination of receiving apparatus comprising a hopper, an endless pan conveyer at the bottom of the hopper, means associated with the pan conveyer for disintegrating the material, an endless conveyer to receive the material from the pan conveyer, delivery apparatus comprising a cross-conveyer for receiving the material from the endless conveyer, wheeled trucks for supporting the receiving apparatus, the belt conveyer and the cross-conveyer, and means for driving the pan conveyer and the disintegrating means from the belt conveyer.

LLOYD A. DOLTON. 

